Zakueast's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sketch - Rain-forest dweller]

Very neat stuff there. This is just my opinion, but I feel like your work could benefit from some more dynamic lines. Your figure could be accented by lines that vary in thickness, but still have some edge to them. One artist I can think of off bat would be Juan Doe (Legion of Monsters) and Nick Roche (his work for Transformers). Something you could try for kicks is doing just the line work with no shading, making a copy of it, and try using some sharp/bold shading to really make your subject pop out and the background complement it. You already have the right idea with what you have here with the lighter shading in the bamboo and the heavier pen lines on the foreground. Invest some money in some gray scale markers and practice making your work really POP on the page. Good job!

Atrocious-Softness responds:

Ooh :o
I'll consider it, thanks :3

[Ninja Turtle Commission]

It was hard for me to distinguish the figure of Leonardo from the rest of the background with this. I'm guessing you prefer to use a shading technique for your work, but it doesn't help if you don't give your piece good dynamic contrast. You should study other artist who have know how to use dynamic lighting in their work to help bring the subject material to life. To give you a direction for that, the Spawn comics and various Batman/Dark Knight comics typically used high contrast between the shadows and highlights in a way that still has the figure shadowed in darkness, but not consumed by it that it's hard to see. Additionally, consider perspective and the angle you're viewing the subject. If you're looking down at a subject, consider how you can make that exciting. If you're looking up, consider how the angle changed how you draw the figure. If you're looking straight on, consider where the horizon line is and how you make the benefit your piece.

Put in a little more work, and this will be an outstanding illustration.

NullBoss responds:

Hey, thanks for the crit, I understand and appreciate what you're saying. As you an see I'm still learning with a lot of things, the whole background was a learning experience for me, also what yu mentioned about dynamic contrast is true, it's something I'm going to have to look into to try and improve my work.

Just another step on a long journey! Thanks for taking the time to view and comment! :D